Melding classic country framework with a stylish modern pop/rock production, “Right Here With You” showcases the talents of young country star Madelyn Victoria, a fiery Texan with cratering vocal abilities. We open up with a blistering guitar part that is subdued by the smothering mix, which softens the mere notion of a rough edge as we vault into the muscular melody head first. The percussion is big and threatening, but it too is kept from becoming too unruly by the tightly wound equalization.
Madelyn Victoria soon makes her first appearance; her voice immediately grabs our attention and leaves us transfixed on her ethereally imparted words, which seem to hang over the harmonies emanating from the strings like a radiant cloud. Her words scrape up against the band and reshape the entire melody to suit the emotion in their substance. There’s a lot of vinyl-style country grit in the band, but Victoria isn’t drawing the strength of her performance from any of her forerunners. She’s true to her roots but committed to dispatching something original and unattached to the output of her peers, and in “Right Here With You” she sets herself apart from the crowded marketplace of exciting new country talent by doing something only she can do – be herself.
The structure of “Right Here With You” is classically country in every sense of the term, but without the rigid, studded groove that it creates a tempo out of it would almost certainly be a less intriguing affair. The lap steel/slide parts are somewhat stock on their own, but when magnified under the thick glass of this mix they take on an entirely different identity that is as attractive and evocative as Victoria’s crooning is. There’s a lot of Texas-style soul in her voice that goes splendidly with the confident, beefy bass that backs up the percussion, and even when everyone is clicking and in perfect synchronicity we’re still able to discern one instrument from another. No one is competing for our attention here – half because it would be futile beside a singer as talented as Madelyn Victoria, and half because this clean, surgically precise mix simply wouldn’t allow for it.
“Right Here With You” highlights the skills that Madelyn Victoria has developed as a lyricist over the last few years as well as her evolved compatibility with other players. As much as it may cosmetically suggest otherwise, this single is less about solidifying her status as a knockout singer and more about showing critics and audiences that she can roll with any style and pace of play and still find her footing. This is a different look for her than what we’ve heard in cover songs and her stellar self-titled debut; she sounds so at ease with her surroundings and able to connect with any groove the band throws her way. There’s no point in denying it; Madelyn Victoria has really come into her own in the last couple of years, and “Right Here With You” is an excellent point of measurement for those who have been following her career from the start with anticipation of content this sublimely produced and performed under her moniker.
Keep up with Madelyn Victoria HERE.
-review by Scottie Carlito
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